The win was only his second career win at VLR, however. VLR_Shock fell three car lengths short to Rainman at the finish, while VLR_18 brought home third. Completing the top five were WFO_ICE of Tahlequah, OK and BLS_F1yer of Hickory, NC.

VLR_18 and WFO_Rainman made up the front row for first ever Gen 3 event for VLR at this track, with VLR_18 gaining the early advantage over Rainman and third starting VLR_Shock.

 

From the very first lap, it was evident that this race was going to come down to the wire based on all the battles going on at the start. VLR_18 and WFO_Rainman were nose to tail, with VLR_Shock lurking in the #0 NOS Energy right behind him in third.

Lap 2 saw VLR_Shock jump the curb in the bottom of turn one and this caused WFO_ICE to have to lift and stacked up the field in an incident which slowed BLS_Superman, BLS_F1yer, and VLR_McGee down, relegating them to the back of the pack, but still within range of the rest of the field.

Shock and ICE quickly gathered their cars up, but lost about five car lengths off the two front runners. Kamikaze used the outside to his advantage to get up to fifth following the early incident.

WFO_Rainman used a well executed move in turn three on the fourth lap to slide in front of VLR_18, and the battle was on from there. These two would battle side by side and nose to tail over the next few laps.

By lap 15 VLR_18 and WFO_Rainman were trading slidejobs as they battled hard for the lead, allowing VLR_Shock to close in and make it a three car race. With the intense battling going on for the top spot, fifth place starting WFO_ICE found himself in the midst of the action in his #97 MasterSbilt.

VLR_18 used a slidejob to clear Rainman and take the lead back over on lap 17, but couldn't pull away and so it was still an exciting four car race for the lead.

Things got even more eventful on lap 19, when apparently Rainman wasn't too happy with how VLR_18 passed him two laps prior, and he drove into turn one hitting 18's left rear. This nearly sent VLR_18 flying off track in turn one, and temporarily had the fans on their feet when VLR_Shock dipped under both to try and take the lead in a three wide battle.

Cooler heads would prevail, and VLR_Shock moved into second place for a moment. He was under WFO_Rainman for the lead into turn three. WFO_Rainman and VLR_18 both used the top line in turn four to power back into first and second, resetting the order to where the top three drivers started the race.

At this time, the racing was as close for the lead as it had been all day, and WFO_ICE used the fervent battling to his advantage and stuck his nose right to VLR_Shock's back bumper out of turn four on the 20th lap of the race.

WFO_Rainman and VLR_18 swapped the lead several times over the next ten laps, in what was turning out to be a thriller of a race. For 18, it was all about to come to an end, though.

On lap thirty he over drove the car a bit in turn three and four and the right side of his dirt late model went off the edge of the track, while running in WFO_Rainman's mirror.

This disastrous move took him out of contention to win as he would fall to fourth place with just 30 laps to go. When 18 was able to regain control, he was seven car lengths behind WFO_ICE, who moved up to third.

With 25 laps to go, the running order was as follows: 1. WFO_Rainman 2. VLR_Shock 3. WFO_ICE 4. VLR_18 5. Kamikaze 6. BLS_F1yer 7. BLS_BLZ 8. VLR_McGee 9. BLS_Superman 10. WFO_Ranger.

After VLR_18 had his troubles, WFO_Rainman was able to breathe easier for a moment and take a four car length lead over new second place driver, VLR_Shock.

Shock was determined to make a run at the win, though. He began slowly cutting into Rainmans lead as the laps were winding down. Twenty circuits were remaining in the 60 lap feature, and Shock had closed in to just 1 1/2 car lengths behind the x59.

Turn one seemed to be where Shock would gain the most time on Rainman, but the x59 machine seemed to be stronger out of turn four. Either way, it was shaping up to be an exciting ending to a dramatic race.

With ten to go, Shock had his sights set on Rainman. The #0 was getting bigger in Rainmans mirror and Shock was all over the back bumper of the x59 for the lead.

VLR_Shock battled hard to get the top spot from WFO_Rainman, dipping under him each lap in turn three and four, but couldn't get it to stick under the Rainman's Roberson Racing powered Ford Mustang.

The battle for third was just as hair-raising as the one for the lead. VLR_18 caught back up to WFO_ICE, but couldn't seem to make a pass. The two would trade bumps on the race track multiple times, until VLR_18 got the best of ICE out of turn four.

On the next lap, in the same corner, ICE decided it was time to do something about it. He powered off into turn four with his intentions on wiping out the points leader. ICE thought better of it at the last second, but it was too late for himself, and he drove off turn four and slammed into the retaining wall that rests about ten feet outside the track.

VLR_18 was brushed in the incident, but suffered no damage to his car. ICE would fall into the clutches of tenth starting BLS_F1yer in a battle for fourth.

Two laps were all that was left in the race, and Shock had WFO_Rainman in his sights. However, it appeared all of his hard racing had finally begun taking it's toll on his tires. And it was perfect timing for WFO_Rainman.

In the last three laps WFO_Rainman was able to stretch his lead from half a car length to nearly four tenths of a second at the finish line in a heart pounding race that kept the fans on their feet for every bit of the 60 thrilling laps.

In the Team VLR victory for just the second time in his long dtr2 career, the 26-year-old dirt racing veteran was elated to win here at one of his best tracks in McKean.

 

“I thought I was going to get smoked in qualifying, because we didn't have much practice at all. It was fun starting up front all night, we didn't have to pass many cars. I was really nervous about the tire compound, and if it was 50 laps I think we would have went with softs all the way,” said the Illinois, who now sits eighth in the point standings at VLR.

“I might have been a little slower with the different compound but I was just out there trying to hold my line and hold on. It was a lot of fun, even though I couldn't hit as consistent as I would like with those harder tires, but it worked, and we got the win. That's all that matters,” said an elated Rainman in victory lane.

VLR_Shock, who finished second in his NOS Energy/Team VLR/MasterSbilt Toyota Camry, congratulated Rainman afterwards for a great race.

 

“That was just a really fun race. I've ran second to Rainman here before, and I was hoping to get him tonight. This was probably the most patient I've driven in a long time and it almost paid off. We went with the softest tires available, and I think that was the right choice for us. The only thing I regret is that ours started going away with about five to go, and it was like they just fell apart with two to go and I wasn't able to make the run I wanted for the win,” said Shock, who now sits 14 points behind VLR_18 in the standings

VLR_18, the defending all time win leader at VLR with 35 victories, was happy with his run, but not so happy with how it ended up.

 

“That was a good race out there between Rain, Shock, and me. Most people would say it was a good points day, but it was a stupid result for us," a dejected VLR_18 said of his third place finish and late race contact with WFO_ICE.

Fourth went to ICE in the Monster Energy/Team WFO/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo SS. He made a visit to VLR_18's hauler after the race, and had to be pulled away by security, before eventually calming down. "For about the first fourty laps I was riding around watching those three race (Rainman, Shock, and VLR_18). Wheel (VLR_18) goes off track and that moved me up to third, and nine laps to go we made contact and I went off track. That's kind of the story of it."

BLS_F1yer brought home a top five after starting towards the back again this week, but was unavailable for an interview.

Completing the top ten were BLS_BLZ of National City, MI; VLR_McGee of Spartanburg, SC; BLS_Superman of Dandridge, TN; Kamikaze of Magnolia, MS; and WFO_Ranger.

Next week VLR's traveling tour heads south to Maryland to race on the newly remodeled DW_Cumberland 2k10 for what will definitely be yet another exciting race.

 

 

For more information on the VLR series, visit www.teamvlr.com

 

Qualifying Results: 1. VLR_18 2. Rain 3. Shock 4. So Cal 5. Ice 6. Mcgee 7. Superman 8. Elmo 9. Ranger 10. Blaze 11. Faschek 12. joshow20 13. kamikaze 14. whiplash 15. bls_54 16. kelly 17. NBR 18. zombie 19. dane 20. dt77 21. hunter 22. switchblade  

Top 10 Results of VLR Late Model series Kwikfill 60 (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed): 

1. (2) WFO_Rainman/60

2. (3) VLR_Shock/60

3. (1) VLR_18/60

4. (5) WFO_ICE/60

5. (10) BLS_F1yer/60

6. (9) BLS_BLZ/60

7. (6) VLR_McGee/60

8. (4) BLS_Superman/60

9. (7) Kamikaze/60

10. (8) WFO_Ranger/60

Time of Race: 11 Mins., 26.52 Secs. 

Margin of Victory: 0.38 Secs.

Rookie of the Race: BLS_BLZ

SuperClean Fast Time Award: WFO_Rainman, VLR_Shock, VLR_18, BLS_F1yer, VLR_McGee 11.33

SuperClean Hard Luck Award: Kamikaze